Lloydy goes to Oldham..
Preparations for the game are therefore very important, so I needed a lucky t-shirt – my Hoops on tour seemed best as it saw two wins over Easter..
Vår englandskorre lämnar rapport från första kvalmatchen..
I have been watching QPR since 1988 and this is the closest that we have been to actually winning something in that time. Since we found out whom we were playing last week I have hardly slept and felt very tense as the pressure has built up towards the match with Oldham.
Preparations for the game are therefore very important, so I needed a lucky t-shirt – my Hoops on tour seemed best as it saw two wins over Easter…and then there was the hair. Yes hair, blue being the favoured colour I bought a can of blue hair spray and sported a ‘Chris Day’ hoop from front to back. Oldham is not the nearest ground to London and I arranged to travel up with Chris O’Hearn and his young son Dominic.
Their car was suitably decorated with all things QPR and we set off up North having arranged to meet some other Rs at Stafford Services, which is about 2/3rds of the way there. There were QPR everywhere, or so it seemed, on the way up. The only disappointment being the confirmation that Gino would be missing due to illness.
We arrived with plenty of time to spare and grabbed a swift pint before making our way to the packed away end and full ground. The team ran out to a great cheer and lined up with Day, Forbes, Rose, Shittu, Williams, McLeod, Palmer, Bircham, Langley, Furlong and Gallen. This meant that the defence had only one member of the side that had seen us through the last ten or so league matches. However, I was not overly concerned, as all the players coming in had played a large part in our season.
QPR started the better and Furlong had a free header over the bar early on and Gallen also went close. The referee seemed to be rather card happy and booked players from both sides. However, we went a goal behind when Oldham won a free kick a little way outside the box. The chap next to me said the wall needed to move left and so it turned out as Eyres hammered the ball in and it took a deflection and went in the bottom left hand corner.
The Oldham keeper looked edgy throughout and I was sure we would score and just after half-time a long cross from the left by Williams evaded keeper and defender to be turned in by Langley for his 10th of the season. Langley however was to turn from hero to villain as he got himself sent off late in the game for two bookable offences, the first he went down to easily looking for a free kick from Sheridan (who maybe should have already been sent off himself but that does not excuse Langley for letting himself get wound up – again) and then he deliberately backed into Sheridan 60 seconds later and raised his arms (or flicked his head back depending on which report you read) and was rightly booked a second time. He will now miss the return leg on Wednesday.
The new rules for the play-offs are that not only will he miss Wednesday but also we now have a number of players, including Shittu, Bircham and Pacquette who if they are booked on Wednesday will miss the final. The referee on Wednesday will be the one who sent of a player and booked a number of others in the Forest vs Sheffield United match on Saturday.
Other highlights from the match were a possibly promotion saving tackle by Williams after a mistake by big Dan and a nasty looking injury by Rose who was clearly in a lot of pain with an arm injury. Big Dan almost scored a spectacular winner when he connected with a half volley on the edge of the box that looked destined for the net but hit an Oldham player in the head leaving him flat out on the pitch!! I also hope the referee on Wednesday keeps a close eye on Wayne Andrews who threw himself to the floor at any given opportunity on Saturday.
I cannot guess what will happen on Wednesday and would imagine Kelly will come in and play right midfield in place of Langley. What I can say is that it will be an electric atmosphere with 14,000 or so QPR fans at full voice. We have the players to win it and if Oldham’s extremely poor finishing continues we should win through.
Here’s hoping we do the job and I would love to see you all in Cardiff on the 25th.
